


Starling Archers

by MISSYriver, TheBookJumper



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternative Universe - No Island, Archery, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Geek/Jock, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, Student/ TA, Team sports, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-09
Updated: 2017-04-20
Packaged: 2018-10-16 16:51:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10575477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MISSYriver/pseuds/MISSYriver, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBookJumper/pseuds/TheBookJumper
Summary: When Oliver Queen signs up for a computer programming class at Starling University, he doesn't realize the girl he's been crushing on since his junior year is the TA for the class.  Ever since they first met, she's never seemed interested in him, but the pride of the Archery team isn't used to not getting what he wants.  And Felicity Smoak is definitely what he wants.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing the clean shaved face of Stephen Amell, bookjumper and I instantly started brain storming. He looked so young that we took him back to college to meet his girl Wednesday. I hope you like it we have a lot more planed. <3 Missy
> 
> When missyriver sent me a picture of Stephen without any facial hair and pitched me the idea of a college AU I was done for. We spent the next few days planning it out and bouncing ideas off of each other and the next thing I knew, this story was off the ground and running. We hope you enjoy it as much as the two of us loved writing it together! ~TheBookJumper

Felicity Smoak hated living in the dorm, but it was all she could afford. It was loud and smelled funny, and she really missed having her own shower. The one thing she hated the most was never having anywhere to study. Her roommate was in and out of their room with no consideration for Felicity or her need to study; playing her music loud, bringing boys at all hours, and the worst was when she would leave open containers of liquids near her baby. If Helena spilled coffee on her laptop one more time, she was going to regret it, especially after her two boyfriends mysteriously find out about each other. 

Felicity startled awake as the door was thrown open and a drunk Helena and her current _friend_ crashed into their room. Helena didn’t seem to notice or care that she was in the room. But the guy noticed and sent her a wink. Felicity knew who he was, everyone knew him. He was good looking and rich. He was also an arrogant ass who thought every woman wanted him. 

Max Fuller smiled and gestured with his head, as if Felicity would join them. Helena, unaware of the invitation, stripped out of her dress and tugged his head down to kiss him. Max removed his shirt and pushed Helena to her knees. He looked at Felicity and smirked, the sound of zipper filled the room. And Felicity jumped up from the bed, grabbed her laptop bag, her coat, and ran from the room. 

She was barefoot, in her favorite panda-covered sleep pants and a tank top. Where could she go at two in the morning? She thought about the library, but then a flash of genius hit: the computer lab. She had a key - being Doctor Wells’s TA had some privileges. After graduating from MIT, Felicity was ready to start her graduate program with Wells as her advisor, when he had decided to switch schools. With his help, she got her scholarships switched, and she followed him to Starling University. That was almost two years ago, and she’d been working with him ever since. 

Harrison Wells was a brilliant man, but he was also a bit of an ass, not that Felicity would ever tell him. She was used to his gruff personality and strict rules. And she’d put up with pretty much anything he could throw at her as long as she was granted access to the knowledge he had in that mind of his. The opportunities and knowledge he could provide were unfathomable, but she would endeavor to reap as many benefits of it as she could, even if it meant she had to put off having a social life. 

The computer lab should have been empty, but instead the smaller inner office was lit up. She could see short, dark blonde hair and large shoulders. Felicity was too tired and too annoyed to deal with Oliver Queen tonight, and what was even worse? He was wearing a tank top, his muscular arms and shoulders on full display. Looking that incredibly hot at two thirty in the morning shouldn't be legal. She tightened her ponytail, adjusted her glasses and stomped into the office.

“What the hell are you doing here? How did you get in? Oh my God, did you break in? What the hell is wrong with you?” Felicity walked up to him and spun his chair around.

Wide, shocked blue eyes met hers. He shot to his feet nearly knocking her over, grabbing onto her arms to steady her. 

“Shit, Felicity you scared me,” Oliver started. “What are you doing here, at this hour?”

“You answer my question first,” she demanded with a poke to his chest. 

Her eyes trailed over his chest and arms. Without her shoes, she barely came up to his shoulders. It made her feel tiny. Oliver drew his brows together, looking her over, but didn’t say anything right away.

“Cisco let me in, so I could try to catch up. But right now I’m failing at getting the computer to even print ‘Hello World.’ Why are you here, and where are you shoes?” Oliver asked.

“I'm working on my thesis for Wells. Not that you would understand any of it,” she scoffed. 

Felicity mentally cringed; she never talked to people like that. She hated when Wells did it, but being around Oliver made her nervous and she never knew how to she respond. Because of that, she’d made it a habit to avoid talking to him as much as possible. But she did enjoy the view whenever she got the chance. 

“Its past 2 A.M., you don’t need to be here now. Why can't you work on your thesis during normal people hours,” he chided.

“Excuse me, but I like coming here at night since I like it quiet when I code.” She put her hands on her hips. “Unlike you, I was given a key, so you don’t get to tell me when I can and can’t come in the lab.” 

Oliver shook his head, “Well I have homework to try and finish and listening to you type a thousand characters per minute is just going to rub salt in the wounds of your refusal to help me.”

“I already told you, I won’t do your work for you and I will not give you the answers to the test or the programming projects. You jocks are unbelievable! Every semester you try to use your muscles and tight ass to get me to do your work. Well guess what, it not going to work. So put a real shirt on. I’m done with this crap.” 

Oliver’s brows arched up in a moment of surprise, then dropped into a scowl.

“Not once have I asked for you to do my work. Wells talks too damn fast for me to keep up, and then people start asking questions. And when you get involved in the discussion, no one has any hope of keeping up with you two geniuses. I asked you to help me, since you’re the fucking TA, but you are so busy putting me in some damn box in your head that you refused to help me.” 

Oliver dropped back down in his seat, his head and shoulders slumped. “Sorry, it’s late, and I’m frustrated, and really tired.”

“Wait, you don’t want me to do your work?” Confusion and surprise laced through her words. “But you're the captain of the archery team, the hottest guy on campus. Not that I noticed how hot you are. That’s just what I’ve heard. And _yes_ , that tank top is pretty hot,” she paused for a breath, her face turning pink. “It’s 2 AM why are wearing a tank top and looking so damn edible? Again, not that I noticed.” Felicity flushed further and looked away.

“No! I was just trying to learn. But none of this make any sense to me. And now I’ll never catch up, and I have a big tournament tomorrow and the Olympic scouts are going to be there, but I don’t even know if I’ll be able pull back a bowstring tomorrow, much less perform with this level of sleep deprivation. I might be the captain, but the freshmen will probably do better than me. So if you could please not rub in how amazing you are at everything right now, that would be much appreciated,” Oliver sighed.

He sat back down in his chair and turned it around to face the computer, then placed his hands back on the keyboard. The dark screen reflected his sad, puppy dog eyes. 

“I doubt that you couldn’t perform,” she stuttered for a minute, trying to stop herself from making any innuendo about that comment. Luckily for her, she was successful this once. “You are amazing. I’ve been to almost all of your competitions this year. Not just watch you or anything, but you know, to show Starling Archer pride. Go team go.” Felicity pumped her fist in the air and grimaced. 

_Did I seriously just do a cheer?_ she asked herself.

“Yes, and it was adorable, but I have a feeling that the words ‘go team go’ have never left your mouth before,” Oliver chuckled, losing the sad puppy dog eyes, the blue lighting with amusement.

Felicity groans, “Of course that was out loud.” She rolled her eyes at her non-functional brain-to-mouth filter. “So Mr. Queen how may I service you?” Felicity slammed her eyes shut, her whole body going still. “I don’t mean you, as in _you_.” She looks down at his sweatpants, then quickly back to his face. “But you know, be of service to you. I mean help you. How can I help you?” She lets out in a rush. 

This was not how Oliver expected his day to end. It had started out normal. In the morning he’d fought with Tommy about picking up after himself. They shared an off-campus apartment and Tommy conveniently forgot, for the fifth time that week, that they don't have a maid to clean up after them. Then, Oliver had to rush to practice, but he showed up late and Coach Slade made him run the bleachers. His calves were still burning.

Oliver's night only got worse when his laptop kept shutting down even when it was fully charged. He had no way to finish his homework that was due tomorrow. Everyone knew that Doctor Wells never accepted late work. He’d begged Ciso to let him into the computer lab. He thought he was finally starting to get some real work done when the computer refused to listen to his print command.

His father had insisted that he take this cyber security class - Oliver had been told that it would be easy, but quickly learned that after Doctor Wells took over the program, the allegedly simple class was harder than expected. There was only one ray of sunshine in the whole class and she was currently standing before him turning a lovely shade of pink.

Oliver hadn't been this close to Felicity in weeks and he was worried he might say something stupid. He saw her everyday; her favorite reading spot was under a tree near the practice arena. She was there before practice and always left before it ended. He’d lost count of the number of times in the past year or so that he’d tried to rush out just to talk to her, but she was always gone.

The times he had worked up the nerve to talk to her never seemed to turn out how he expected. It had taken him weeks to ask for her help in class, and her exasperated refusal had shocked him. She had barely even looked at him when she shot down his plea for help and he'd been avoiding her ever since. But here she was, inches away from him, and smiling. This girl was dangerous when she smiles, and he just knew he’d say the wrong thing.

Since the first time he literally ran into her, spilling his latte all over her laptop, she’d been ever present on his mind.


	2. First

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are amazing. Seriously - we're both overwhelmed with the love and comments we've gotten from this story and we're beyond thrilled that you all enjoy it so much.
> 
> So much thanks to everyone who's given us such a fantastic response. 
> 
> Special thank yous go out to Victoria (@victori96572376), who created the amazing piece of artwork for this story.
> 
> We hope you like this one just as much as the last!
> 
> -TheBookJumper and MissyRiver

**_1 year, 7 months ago_ **

Felicity was in the zone. Her fingers flew over her keyboard as she fought her way through the firewalls of the SCPD, her focus unshakeable.

Or at least it _was_ until she was literally shaken by someone bumping into her chair, a hot liquid burning her fingers and coating the keyboard of her precious tech. Her screen suddenly went dark.

“No! No, no, no, no, no. Come back to me, baby. It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.” She grabbed some napkins and dried off the power button and her finger, then depressed the power key, forcing her computer to do a hard shutdown. Then she flipped the laptop over and removed the battery as fast as possible.

“I’m so sorry - I didn’t even see you there.”

She raised her hand to stop the guy from talking. Time was critical right now. Rummaging through her messenger bag, Felicity located her set of micro precision screwdrivers and set to work opening up the bottom of her laptop as quickly as she could while still ensuring she didn’t lose any screws in the grass where she was sitting in the quad. Once she’d finally removed her memory and hard drive she could breathe again. 

Finally, she glared at the man who’d apparently been the one to crash into her. “What did you _do_?” A stern expression adorned her face even as her eyes met the sapphire blues of the gorgeous specimen of man towering over her. She paused in her mental appraisal, making sure none of that had come out of her mouth; she didn’t care how gorgeous he was, he’d hurt her baby and there was no way she wanted to give him an ego boost. Luckily he didn’t react, so she must have kept quiet.

He took a step toward her. “I’m sorry, again. It was an accident.”

“Back up! You are to be at least 10 feet from any piece of my tech at all times from now on. Understand?”

He threw his hands up in a defensive gesture against this tiny girl’s loud voice. “Please, just let me fix it. Whatever I need to buy or do, I’ll do it,” he pleaded. He’d do anything to get this gorgeous creature to stop looking at him like he was the scum of the earth. 

Oliver Queen felt horrible that he’d tripped over the small blonde, spilling his latte on her computer. He’d immediately moved to apologize when the she’d captivated him by deftly taking apart her computer in under two minutes right before his eyes. The way her hands moved, gently and confidently removing circuit board-looking things from the plastic covering like she knew exactly what she was doing was mesmerizing. Then he’d looked at her and he was a goner. Blonde hair, sky blue eyes, brightly-painted lips, and obviously brilliant? Was it Christmas?

Then she’d turned her enmity on him and he found himself getting irrationally turned on. As she yelled at him, her face flushed a beautiful pink and her eyes brightened in passion and anger. 

“Do you need a new computer? Or a coffee? Lunch? Maybe dinner?” He turned his patented puppy dog eyes on the girl, trying to get her to tell him what he could do to fix it. “A stick of gum?”

But she didn’t respond. Watching her eyes drop down to survey the state of her tech, the ire dissolved from her expression and, to his horror, her eyes began to water. He took another step forward, wanting to offer her some kind of comfort. Anything.

Her eyes immediately shot up to his when he moved. “I said get back! Ten feet.” He watched as her shoulders slumped, and when she continued, there was much less anger clouding her voice. “You can’t fix this. Just don’t come near my tech anymore, okay? This was the last computer I built with my dad,” she trailed off and he got the distinct impression that the last part wasn’t meant for him to hear, but he had, and his stomach dropped.

“Oh God, no. Listen, my name’s Oliver. I know people at Queen Consolidated who could probably help. They have a great IT Department. Please just let me call someone.”

She pulled herself together, squaring her shoulders, and raising her eyes to meet his again, no trace of sadness or anger anywhere to be seen.

“No. It’s fine. Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be able to get any replacement parts and salvage all of the data myself. It just won’t be _the_ computer anymore, it’ll just be _a_ computer. And that’s okay,” she took a steadying breath. “Really. It’s not like he loved me anyway. It’ll be fine.”

Oliver had no idea what to say to that. He sat down next to her and tried to lighten the mood, quipping “I wasn’t kidding about the stick of gum. It’s extra double mint.”

“And I wasn’t kidding about the stay back part. If you hurt another piece of my tech, I’ll make sure that every time you give a presentation, porcupine flatulence will play as loud as your speakers can go for at least the rest of your college career.” 

Although she was completely serious, Oliver couldn't help but chuckle. “I don't know whether I'm more terrified or turned on right now.” She scoffed at him, her eyes disbelieving even as he continued, “Please. Just tell me your name?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to find the lie in his words and determine whether this was all just some elaborate humiliate-the-nerdy-girl prank. “Sure. My name is: Not. Happening.”

Instead of getting annoyed like she expected, he grinned at her, and _wow_ were those some great dimples. Who the frak was this hottie and why was he talking to her?

“How do you spell that?” he asked cheekily. “You know, if you don't tell me your name, I'm going to have to make up something to call you. Maybe Joy. Sunshine?”

“Or you could just not call me,” was her sardonic reply.

The dimples got deeper, if that was even possible. “I really don't think that's an option at this point. I've never met someone who could scold me, threaten me, and turn me on all at the same time. Please, Cupcake, just a name.”

Oliver watched the annoyance on her face skyrocket with the new nickname. Then something in the distance caught her eye, and her face lit up with excitement and a brilliant smile. She was stunning.

“Iris!” she exclaimed. Then she turned back to the man on the grounds next to her, mischief dancing in her eyes. “That's a name. Also my friend, who I see over there. So, bye now.”

She picked up the computer and the pieces she'd removed from it and stowed them in her messenger bag, then stood. She wiped her hands over her legs and shorts removing any remnants of grass that may have clung to her.

It was only his, “I'm sorry, again. Really,” that brought her face back down to where he was sitting. He was looking at her, eyes full of sincerity. Then he stood, too, dwarfing her small frame once more. It was the genuine expression in his eyes that she took pity on.

“Felicity,” she told him, reaching up and removing her hair from it's makeshift bun by pulling the red pen from the tangled mess and using her fingers to attempt to reshape her curls into something presentable. “That one's mine.”

The dimples made a reappearance as his eyes lit up. “Felicity. That's beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes. “Your face is beautiful,” her eyes got big as she realized what she said. “Wait, no. That was supposed to be an insult. Like, when someone says ‘you're weird’ and you respond with ‘yeah well, your face is weird.’ I didn't mean it like your face is actually beautiful. Not that it's not. I mean,” she took a deep breath. “Three. Two. One.”

He watched in fascination as she cringed and then pressed her lips together to keep more words from tumbling out. “Well, in that case, your face is as beautiful as your name.”

As she started to move away from him, her fingers waving in a goodbye gesture, he couldn't stop himself from calling out, “Can I just follow you a bit, in a non-stalker way, I mean. I'm just really curious what you're going to say next. I think I might start keeping a journal.”

She stopped dead in her tracks. “You're making me regret this already.”

The coldness to her tone tipped him off that she had mistaken what he said as him making fun of her. “No! I don't mean it in an insulting way,” he tried desperately to rectify his screw up. “I just mean that… wow, I'm usually better at this.”

“At driving girls away? You're doing fine.”

“Talking to girls in general normally isn't this hard.”

“I'm sure plenty is hard for you.” Her cheeks burned when she realized what she'd said. “Umm, not that! Not… you… being hard, just things being hard.”

Oliver smirked at her, his confidence bolstered by her reference. “Want to find out?”

She shook her head back and forth so hard he was worried she might get whiplash. “No. I don't _find out_ with guys whose names I don't know.”

At that, he stuck his hand out to her. “Oliver Jonas Queen. Junior. Majoring in business, minoring in social awkwardness apparently. Member of the archery team. Hoping to make Captain next year. The Olympics, too.”

He paused for a second, waiting for her to say something. When she didn't he continued, “Birthday May 16, 1985. Born in Starling City. I'm a Taurus, if you subscribe to that kind of thing. Best friend: Tommy Merlyn. Sister: Thea. Mom: Moira. Dad: Robert. Do you need any more?”

“Uh. Shoe size?”

He tried to keep his face as straight as possible, deadpanning, “Eleven.” Something must have tipped her off in his expression because she buried her face in her hands.

“I-I didn't mean it like that. I just meant, because it seemed like you listed everything else,” she grumbled into her palms.

“Ask me anything. I'm an open book,” he tried to encourage her.

Suddenly another voice sounded from behind him. “Hey, Ollie. You forgot your jacket at my place last night. Did Tommy give it to you?” Laurel Lance asked, coming up to stand next to him, draping her arm over his shoulder.

“Oh! Hey Laurel. I’ll get it from him later. Thanks for last night, by the way, I really needed that.”

Laurel turned into him and lifted her free hand to his cheek. “Anytime, Ollie. You know that.”

“And that’s my cue,” Felicity piped up, feeling awkwardly like a third wheel. “It was - interesting - to meet you.” She waved her fingers at him in a goodbye and made her way to Iris.

“Whoa, Felicity. Were you just talking to Oliver Queen?” Iris questioned as she linked arms with her friend and continued across the quad. “Why didn't you tell me you knew Oliver?”

“I wouldn't really say I know him. He just ran into me and destroyed my baby. Why?” Felicity arched her brow at her friend's obvious crush.

“Okay is he just as handsome in real life? ‘Cause I know I wouldn't be able to stop staring! Just the other day, I told Barry that Oliver's arms are twice the size of his and he did that adorable grumble, you know the one where he’s all pouty and jealous.” She waited a beat for her friend to nod in acknowledgment. “You know, Oliver is number three on my list,” Isis beamed.

Felicity was sure she knew the list Iris was talking about. But there was no way that Oliver would be her number three. Before that beautiful brunette came along, Felicity would have put him in her top spot even with the tech murder charge. She foolishly thought that he had even tried to ask her out, but he must have felt bad for killing her baby and wanted to give her a pity date. There was no one _that_ hot with a girlfriend who looked like _that_ who would be interested in her. Felicity knew she wasn’t the competition of the gorgeous brunette with legs for days.

“Your list?” Felicity distractedly asked. 

“You know the list of people I can sleep with and it's not considered cheating on Barry. But since you talked to him, I’ve decided to live vicariously through you. What did he say? Does he smell as good as he looks? When will you see him again? I need details woman!” Iris bounced up on her toes in anticipation.

“I talked to him for maybe ten minutes, tops. He smelled like the coffee he spilled all over my laptop. He told me way too much information and then his gorgeous girlfriend draped herself all over him and flaunted that he spent the night with her. That’s it. End of story. Oliver Queen is not on my list, not even in the top spot or third spot. No matter what his shoe size is.” 

“His shoe size? What in the world did you two talk about?” Iris laughed. “Girlfriend, huh? Last I heard he wasn’t seeing anyone. What did she look like?”

“Tall, gorgeous brunette, big blue eyes, and a smile only for him. I don’t think she even bothered to look at me.”

“That sounds like Laurel Lance. I know they used to date freshman year, but I heard they broke up. Maybe they got back together. Damn! I was all ready to be captain of the U.S.S Olicity ship.” 

“The what!?” Felicity sputtered.

“Your ship name, Oliver and Felicity equals Olicity. It’s adorable and I reserve the right to plan your wedding one day,” Iris pledged. 

Felicity threw back her head and laughed, “That’s never going to happen, my friend. But you’ll be the first to know when I do get married. Although you’ll probably have to fight my mom for planning duties.”

Iris made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “All you need to do is tell me everything that happens the next time you see him. That way I can write it down for my maid of honor speech.” 

“I doubt I will ever see him again. Much less that he will even remember my name.” Felicity shook her head and tried not to think about bright blue eyes and gorgeous smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow us:  
> @thebookjumper  
> @MISSYriver


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